Surgery went well, though it looks like there's still one more in the future. The vet is giving me a discount but even still I'm maxing out the cards I had almost paid off. We're home now, he's sleeping beside me. Got him to eat a little, but I'm trying not to put too much on his stomach, so I'm waiting an hour or so between tiny portions of food. For him, that is. For me, I'm stress-eating hummus and olive tapenade like it's the only food on a deserted island.

Yesterday I had to work so Rob took him in for his check up. He's been into the vet 7 times in the past 8 days. When they got there, they decided there was still too much dead skin, so they knocked him out with a mild anesthetic for about twenty minutes and trimmed off more skin. Today they'll do the same again, and try to tack down what's left (which is flopping around revoltingly). So much has died that we're running short on options for covering the wound - much of the infected area was the bottom of the tail, and we can't take skin from that area because it could affect his ability to use the bathroom. It may be several months of wound care while the skin grows back itself. I don't know.

I do know we're not in fear for his life right now. The infection is responding very well to the Baytril, and seems to be gone, he's feeling normal and silly and like himself, and I'm muchless distraught. It's been a hard two weeks.

Okay, so at today's visit the vet decided he wants to do another full-out surgery tomorrow. Rob and I will drop him off in the morning, he'll go right back for surgery, they'll take skin from his back, and stretch it down to cover as much of the tail as they can. When he's awake enough that I can take him (and they let me take him before they let most pet owners) I'll go pick him up and my boss has okayed it that he'll spend the afternoon in my office with me. That will be good because I'll be able to keep an eye on him, Rob will be nearby, and I won't lose anymore hours, since I've been late or off every day this past week. So I'm pretty nervous about it, but now I'm nervous like I was pre-first surgery, not nervous like he's going to die. I feel like I haven't slept in over two weeks. Probably because I haven't actually slept nightmare-free in over two weeks.

His original dock was maybe four or five inches? Slightly longer than the little boxer nub. They took off another vertebra in the second surgery, and now it's about as long as a boxer nub. Just a little stump. We're using baby (not doggy) diapers, and there's no need to cut a hole - his tail likely wouldn't stick out anyway.